View Full Version : Is this Poison Ivy or Poison Oak?
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It grows straight up and then breaks into three branches and then it usually has 5 leaves: three at the end and two opposite each other. I look at pictures on the internet but I'm still not sure. Thanks
SC_Forester
06-05-2019, 19:52
It's not poison Ivy or Oak. Neither will ever have 5 leaves. Not sure what region your in so an Id would be difficult with out a location and more pictures.
Not pi or po. It might be a box elder(Acer negundo) seedling which sometimes has five leaves. It's not native to ME but it does volunteer itself which is why it may be listed as an exotic invasive in ME. Was it near human habitation? I ask because sometimes, but I'd suspect rarely in ME, it may be planted as an ornamental in residential landscaping where it escapes to nearby woodlots.
Traillium
06-05-2019, 23:28
Aralia nudicaulis, Wild Sarsaparilla. Common and native woodland plant in the NorthEast. Leaves are thin, rather than the thicker leaves of Poison Ivy. The teeth along the leaf edge are fine and regular, whereas PI has large and irregular teeth.
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It's probably the wild sarsaparilla. I live in a cabin in the woods not far from the AT. Somewhere I got poison ivy. I've been looking for the poison ivy so I can avoid it in the future but I can't find it. The wild sarsaparilla grows along my trails. I had been discounting it but then I decided to check on the internet and that just confused me more. Thanks Traillium for clearing that up.
LoneStranger
06-06-2019, 10:57
Sure hope the browntails haven't reached your neck of the woods. They do terrible things to the skin.
coach lou
06-06-2019, 12:34
I can not see the leaf edge clearly. If it is smooth and lobed, it could be oak, Ivy is a vine oak is a bush,but Maine.....maybe not. If it is serrated (^^^^^^^^^), then it is neither.
Aralia nudicaulis, Wild Sarsaparilla. Common and native woodland plant in the NorthEast. Leaves are thin, rather than the thicker leaves of Poison Ivy. The teeth along the leaf edge are fine and regular, whereas PI has large and irregular teeth.
YES, that's it. 100%. TU.
Traillium
06-09-2019, 21:55
Here’s Aralia nudicaulis, Wild Sarsaparilla, including the flowers on a separate stalk.
This is very common along the Bruce Trail in Southern Ontario — as it is in the deciduous forests in Southern Ontario. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190610/7729923e6c4dd7febab3cbd844e884d3.jpg
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Number of leaflets on teh same plant can be variable in number. I've seen the same plant with three leaves missing the two lower basal leaflets, next to a stem with four leaflets with the center pinnate leaf missing, and with 5 leaflets as shown, As the leaves mature they loose the red glossy sheen. It's fragrant. The flowers and fruit give it away if you can experience it that way.
MuddyWaters
06-10-2019, 06:36
I can not see the leaf edge clearly. If it is smooth and lobed, it could be oak, Ivy is a vine oak is a bush,but Maine.....maybe not. If it is serrated (^^^^^^^^^), then it is neither.
Poision ivy can be a vine, bush, shrub, or ground cover. It takes on many forms. Its an interesting plant.
rmitchell
06-10-2019, 07:23
Leaves of three, let it be.
Trillium also has three leaves but they are usually much broader and not so glossy. Jack-in-the pulpit is another wildflower that looks very similar to poison ivy.
Like MW said it can take many forms. Unfortunately I have a lot of it at home. Good thing is that I have a goat that will eat it.
Another interesting thing is that it does not grow above 3500 ft. in elevation in the Smokies. Cosby Campground at 2000 ft. has a lot of it. But if you go up Low Gap trail it disappears as you climb.
I've seen it in Shenandoah also as well as Harpers Ferry. Does poison ivy diminish any further north? Or does the 3500ft. level apply regardless of lattitude?
Traveler
06-10-2019, 07:24
Poision ivy can be a vine, bush, shrub, or ground cover. It takes on many forms. Its an interesting plant.
Indeed both of these plants are interesting, having the capacity to be a vine, shrub, bush, and can fool even the most experienced eye at times.
Poison ivy, generally is most commonly found east of the Rocky Mountains with exceptions, can take several different forms of growth and leaf appearance can change greatly between plants depending on season and where it's growing. However the old adage "Leaves of three, leave it be" works for poison ivy as in all cases it has compound leaves in groups of three.
Poison oak, generally most commonly found mostly west of the Rocky Mountains with exceptions, is a little more difficult to spot as it too can change forms of growth and have different leaf characteristics/shapes and colors depending on season and region its growing in. Unlike poison ivy, it can have 3, 5, or 7 leaf clusters but typically the leaves will look similar to small oak tree leaves.
My grandfather had a great approach to this when I asked if this or that plant was poison ivy, "if it looks like poison ivy, or you think it may be, leave it alone". Good advice under most any circumstance.
illabelle
06-10-2019, 07:40
Leaves of three, let it be.
Trillium also has three leaves but they are usually much broader and not so glossy. Jack-in-the pulpit is another wildflower that looks very similar to poison ivy.
Like MW said it can take many forms. Unfortunately I have a lot of it at home. Good thing is that I have a goat that will eat it.
Another interesting thing is that it does not grow above 3500 ft. in elevation in the Smokies. Cosby Campground at 2000 ft. has a lot of it. But if you go up Low Gap trail it disappears as you climb.
I've seen it in Shenandoah also as well as Harpers Ferry. Does poison ivy diminish any further north? Or does the 3500ft. level apply regardless of lattitude?
You might need more goats. :)
I have also seen that there's no poison ivy at higher elevations in the Smokies. I've seen plenty of it on the trail in Virginia & West Virginia. Not sure about the low elevations in the next few states because of the season when I was there. But I definitely didn't see any in Maine or New Hampshire, and probably not Vermont or Massachusetts.
Traveler
06-10-2019, 07:53
Poison ivy/oak does not grow well over 4,000-feet, which may be the reason. Elevations that approach that height will probably lessen the number of plants as well.
Poison ivy can take on a lot of different looks in New England and can be easily missed growing into the canopy via vines, but as elevation increases the plants decrease. In lower elevation river valleys, there is a considerable amount of poison ivy in New England. I have a relatively constant battle with these plants on my property in CT (elevation 1,400-feet), and when we lived in Maine in the Boothbay Harbor region it was something we kept looking for.
MuddyWaters
06-10-2019, 08:42
Taught my kids when they were little to recognize it.
Leaves of three......and " dont touch hairy vines"
I been watching a single vine on a pine tree at park near my house for 20 yrs. Park maintenance missed it.
Started out as little hairy vine climbing a ~8" skinny pine out in open . Tree is 18-24" now.
Now its about 2" thick woody vine, spirals up trunk, and spreads out long branches about 15' off ground. Interesting, this vine is minimally hairy, you have to look close, ones in swampy woods are often totally hairy in my experience. Again, interesting plant, its often different
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHUSOkGrWC4
HooKooDooKu
06-10-2019, 11:27
...I have also seen that there's no poison ivy at higher elevations in the Smokies...
Poison ivy/oak does not grow well over 4,000-feet, which may be the reason. Elevations that approach that height will probably lessen the number of plants as well.
Based on personal experience, once you start getting significantly above 3,000' in GSMNP, you are unlikely to encounter poison ivy.
Another thing to keep an eye out for is Virginia Creeper (leaves of five, let it thrive). It is a direct competitor as Poison Ivy and grows in the same conditions. So when you're hiking in those transitional altitudes, anywhere you see Virginia Creeper, you might also find Poison Ivy.
Tipi Walter
06-10-2019, 12:41
Based on personal experience, once you start getting significantly above 3,000' in GSMNP, you are unlikely to encounter poison ivy.
Another thing to keep an eye out for is Virginia Creeper (leaves of five, let it thrive). It is a direct competitor as Poison Ivy and grows in the same conditions. So when you're hiking in those transitional altitudes, anywhere you see Virginia Creeper, you might also find Poison Ivy.
I was gonna mention virginia creeper as many people confuse it with poison ivy---although it's easily distinguishable.
There's a section of the Benton MacKaye trail north of Unicoi Gap along Peels Mt and Tate Gap and Cantrell Top which is nothing but a sea of healthy poison ivy. One time I got knackered and had to find a camp and, well, who wants to clear a patch of p. ivy?? Luckily I found a small patch of mayapples and cleared a spot---
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HooKooDooKu
06-10-2019, 13:19
There's a section of the Benton MacKaye trail north of Unicoi Gap along Peels Mt and Tate Gap and Cantrell Top which is nothing but a sea of healthy poison ivy. One time I got knackered and had to find a camp and, well, who wants to clear a patch of p. ivy?? Luckily I found a small patch of mayapples and cleared a spot---
The worst trail I've seen in GSMNP for Poison Ivy was Beard Cane trail. Four miles of a narrow path through a sea of poison ivy.
Setting up a tent at campsite #3 was not an issue. With designated campsites in GSMNP, the vegetation remains cleared due to use.
But when it was time to dig a cat-hole, I must have hiked more than the length of a football field before I could find a patch of ground off the trial free enough of poison ivy to safely be able to dig a hole.
That trail is what finally taught my boys how to recognize poison ivy. When you stare at the stuff for hours, your mind starts to pickup the details of the plant making it easy to recognize.
The way I learned to recognize poison ivy was trying to clear it from some land I own. For about an hour a day over the course of a week, I walked the property with a sprayer of Roundup... spraying ANYTHING with three leaves. After looking at three-leaf plants for that many hours, your mind starts to be able to easily discern the subtle differences and it becomes easy to recognize poison ivy.
Tipi Walter
06-10-2019, 13:58
And often the healthiest "meanest" poison ivy has a very "greasy" oily look to the leaves.
And speaking of digging a cathole---who here belongs to the exclusive Itchy Bunghole Club????
Meaning: Sometime in our years of backpacking and thousands of bag nights we were sure to at least one time dig a cathole (at night maybe?) and squat over poison ivy to release an angry Turd. It's happened to me at least once. Results? No I don't have Pinworms but a bad case of ivy rash on the old butt region---so please disregard my constant scratching.
perdidochas
06-10-2019, 14:25
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It grows straight up and then breaks into three branches and then it usually has 5 leaves: three at the end and two opposite each other. I look at pictures on the internet but I'm still not sure. Thanks
It's not poison ivy. I'm not as familiar with poison oak, but I don't think it's poison oak either. It's also not poison sumac. If in doubt, don't touch it.
gravityman
06-10-2019, 15:11
Poison ivy is all over the front range in Colorado. So it certainly grows up to 5k feet.
Once you know what it looks like, you never forget. At least I won't. And my kids know it too.
A friend of mine and his girlfriend at a party one night decided to wander off into the woods to get frisky. Yep, in a patch of poison ivy. Both of them were pretty miserable for a week or so. Alcohol doesn't cure that particular itch.